Former Quebec justice minister Marc Bellemare was further challenged Monday on his scathing allegations last week of improper pressure from within the Liberal Party of Quebec on the nomination of judges.
Quebec government lawyer Suzanne Cote was the first to cross-examine Bellemare at the Bastarache commission on Monday, and she brought up some past statements Bellemare had made bragging about how he wouldn't ever succumb to pressure.
Bellemare acknowledged making the comments, but said the realities of politics made it impossible for him to resist the pressure he was says came from Liberal fundraiser Franco Fava and Premier Jean Charest.
Cote's focus Monday was also on the six-month delay before Bellemare nominated judges in 2003 at a time when several districts were in need of them.
Bellemare's past testimony was that he was under pressure by Fava to name Marc Bisson as a judge in the Longueuil Criminal Court, and that Charest encouraged him to do what Fava wanted.
Bellemare testified that Charest told him to name Bisson in September of 2003, yet Cote pointed out that Bellemare waited another two months before confirming the nomination.
Bellemare's testimony Monday revealed a new name linked to pressure over judge nominations.
Bellemare said he was also pressured to consider someone from the inner circle of new Quebec Justice Minister Jean-Marc Fournier as a judge. But Fournier's favoured candidate, according to Bellemare, failed a Surete du Quebec security check. That's when Bisson was finally named to the Longueuil Criminal Court.
Earlier Monday, Bellemare vehemently denied that he sought out Fava to help finance his two campaigns to become mayor of Quebec City.
"In no way did I appeal to Mr. Franco Fava for the municipal campaign, whether it was in 2005 or 2007," Bellemare told the Bastarache commission on the nomination of judges.
Bellemare was denying allegations by Liberal supporter Jean-Paul Boily, who said last week that Bellemare's former municipal party Vision Quebec solicited Fava's help at a financing meeting on March 21, 2005.
"I have no memory of having seen (Fava) at any meeting and I don't believe he contributed or attracted any financial contributions," Bellemare said, answering questions from the commission's lead counsel Giuseppe Battista.
Fava, who will testify at the commission in the coming weeks, told Quebec City newspaper Le Soleil last week that he will provide names to prove that he was approached by Bellemare for fundraising help during the 2005 mayoralty campaign.
Bellemare will also be cross-examined by lawyers for Charest and the Liberal Party.
Once Bellemare's cross-examination is over, testimony from the list of roughly 40 witnesses to the commission will begin.
The commission released the names of the people expected to testify this week and it includes Pierre Legendre, Nicole Breton and Andree Giguere, who have all served as provincial coordinators for the selection of judges.
Huguette Saint-Louis, the former chief justice of the Quebec Court, is also expected to take the stand this week.
Charest will also be testifying before the commission, but is not expected to be called for a few weeks yet.
With files from the Canadian Press
Former Quebec justice minister Marc Bellemare vehemently denied Monday that he sought out Liberal fundraiser Franco Fava to help finance his two campaigns to become mayor of Quebec City.
"In no way did I appeal to Mr. Franco Fava for the municipal campaign, whether it was in 2005 or 2007," Bellemare told the Bastarache commission on the nomination of judges.
Bellemare was denying allegations by Liberal supporter Jean-Paul Boily, who said last week that Bellemare's former municipal party Vision Quebec solicited Fava's help at a financing meeting on March 21, 2005.
"I have no memory of having seen (Fava) at any meeting and I don't believe he contributed or attracted any financial contributions," Bellemare said, answering questions from the commission's lead counsel Giuseppe Battista.
Fava, who will testify at the commission in the coming weeks, told Quebec City newspaper Le Soleil last week that he will provide names to prove that he was approached by Bellemare for fundraising help during the 2005 mayoralty campaign.
Earlier Monday, Battista put Bellemare's credibility to the test, casting doubt on his statement last week that he was under intense pressure by Fava in the naming of Judge Marc Bisson to the Quebec Court in 2003.
Battista used a series of documents to show that two of three other candidates to the bench had been eliminated through security checks undertaken by the Surete du Quebec.
Bisson, the son of a major Liberal Party fundraiser, was named to the Longueuil Criminal Court, despite not originally figuring among the list of three candidates.
Battista pointed out that there had been delays in the naming of a new judge to the Longueuil court, something that seems contrary to the idea of being pressured.
Last week, Bellemare rocked Premier Jean Charest's government with damning accusations that he was pressured into nominating three judges by Fava, and that Charest not only knew about it, but asked Bellemare to keep it quiet as well.
Bellemare was scheduled to be cross-examined later Monday by Quebec government lawyer Suzanne Cote, and later from a lawyer representing Charest and another representing the Liberal Party of Quebec.
Once Bellemare's cross-examination is over, testimony from the list of roughly 40 witnesses to the commission will begin.
The commission released the names of the people expected to testify this week and it includes Pierre Legendre, Nicole Breton and Andree Giguere, who have all served as provincial coordinators for the selection of judges.
Huguette Saint-Louis, the former chief justice of the Quebec Court, is also expected to take the stand this week.
Charest will also be testifying before the commission, but is not expected to be called for a few weeks yet.
With files from the Canadian Press
